Apple cuts iMac price by $200 with new entry level model

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It looks like Apple’s all-in-one desktop solution just got a little cheaper, with a new starting price of $1,099.

Apple’s hardware is routinely criticized as being overpriced, and that conversation rarely ends in a civil fashion. Apple places a premium on their design and the quality of their hardware, but also on their ability to resolve issues through Apple Care in such a way that your computer keeps running.

Apple’s iMacs are thin, beautiful machines that can’t be easily upgraded, but provide a compelling all-in-one experience. They help create clean, crisp-looking desks by hiding everything behind the monitor, and now they are going to start being a little less expensive. $200 less expensive to be precise.

As we speculated last week, the price of the iMac has fallen, but with the introduction of a new spec 21.5-inch model. It includes a 1.4GHz Intel Haswell Core i5 instead of the 2.7GHz in the $1,299 model. This model comes with 8GB of RAM, and Apple’s website doesn’t appear to offer any way of increasing that for this model.

The lower price point allows Apple to better compete with other all-in-one machines, as well as appealing to those consumers on tighter budgets. As more users switch to laptops and tablets, the primary market for iMacs is enterprise markets whose pockets aren’t deep enough to put a Mac Pro on every desk. As a result, they need to be a little more competitive.

With OS X Yosemite on the way this fall, the iMac will join the rest of Apple’s product line in creating a unified user experience. This move to offer a cheaper iMac must in part be a play to get new users into the Apple ecosystem that then leads to an iPad and iPhone sale.